In today’s digital day and age, we have forgotten about the benefits of using paper. We turn to our shiny little screens to take photos, notes, and store records. Joining us today on the Stand Out podcast is long-time NAPO member, Julie Bestry. Julie is a professional organizer who dazzles people with her wonderful blogs. Today, we discuss what she is noticing about the shift in our relationship to paper over the last few years, the Cornell note-taking method, haptics, and the beauty of cursive....
Aug 10, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 103
This is an extra special episode of Stand Out, and one that none of our listeners will want to miss! Today we have the past Director of NAPO and organizing and productivity pioneer, Harold Taylor on the show, to share some of the wealth of wisdom he has accumulated after 45 years in the business! Harold is now in his 80s, but has not let this slow him down, and continues to work, publishing books and leading an extremely rich and exciting life. In our conversation, we get to cover the basics wit...
Jul 27, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 102
Diversity, inclusion, and representation are essential in any field. Unfortunately, most of our institutions still have a long way to go in addressing this. It’s unsurprising that in response to this type of exclusion, whether intentional or not, people of color and other minorities have often formed support groups and alternative organizations where they can find much-needed solidarity and understanding. Today on the show we talk with Carolyn Rogers, an electrical and software engineer and orga...
Jul 13, 2022•33 min•Season 3Ep. 101
High sensitivity is a trait that affects one in five people in the general population, but today’s expert guest agrees that there seems to be a much higher prevalence of this in the organizing and productivity community as well as the coaching community. Joining us today is Melody Wilding, a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), thought leader, coach, professor of human behavior, and the author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. She’s been listed as Busi...
Jun 22, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 100
Today we talk about the critical role of organizing in caregiving. Joining us for this discussion is Amelia Pleasant Kennedy, a NAPO member and an experienced professional organizer and life coach who runs a company called A Pleasant Solution. Amelia explains how she began her journey into the world of caregiving when her mother could no longer care for herself and how being a professional organizer uniquely prepared her for this role. She shares her story with us about how she first realized he...
Jun 08, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 99
We’re all familiar with the phrase, “Good enough is good enough,” but today’s guest is here to share some wisdom around why good enough isn’t just good enough, it’s perfect. KC Davis is a therapist, author (of How to Keep House While Drowning, which we highly recommend ) , and mother of two, who also recently became a TikTok sensation for her open and honest accounts of her home life during the pandemic and her approach to dealing with a messy household. Struggling with postpartum depression dur...
May 25, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 98
“When you think about it, our day starts and it ends in our closet.” These are the words of today’s guest Naeemah Ford Goldson, who joins us as we delve into the world of closets! Naeemah is a NAPO member, the proud owner of Restore Order Professional Organizing, and the host of her own podcast Organize Me! Radio. She's also a member of the ICD and the founder of NABPO which is the National Association of Black Professional Organizers, a non-profit that seeks to empower BIPOC Professional Organi...
May 11, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 97
After years of struggling with clutter, today’s guest realized something that would change her life forever; she didn’t organize in the traditional way. Cassandra Aarssen discovered that there are, in fact, four different organizing styles. Once she knew her style, Cassandra (or Cass, as she is affectionately known) was finally able to design a system that worked for her and stay organized for good! She’s now on a mission to spread the Clutterbug Organizing Philosophy and help other families who...
Apr 06, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 96
Over the last few decades, the organizing industry has progressed in almost indescribable ways and our guest today, Dorothy Breininger, has witnessed many of these changes, having built an amazing career along the way. Dorothy joins us on the show today to talk about this wonderful journey that she has been on, what got her started, and her thoughts on the current landscape of organizing. She has some truly inspiring messages for all of our listeners around working with your circumstance, stayin...
Mar 23, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 95
The past two years have reshaped the way we communicate with each other, and today we’re going to be tackling the hyper-relevant topic of Zoom Doom! Our principal point of connection these days is through a screen and many of us are simply exhausted by it. The phenomenon of virtual communication isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and joining us today to dissect the causes and provide solutions for the dreaded Zoom fatigue is communication expert, Lauren Sergy. Lauren has recently published a new ...
Mar 09, 2022•44 min•Season 3Ep. 94
Emotional labor as Regina Lark describes it is the unseen, unnoticed, unwaged, unwritten, and unanticipated work women do at home. Gender inequity is an age-old issue that women still bear the brunt of and Regina joins us today to break down why it is that we are dumped with the job of homemaking, regardless of how our brains are hardwired, and why we feel such a deep sense of shame if we can’t stay on top of the mess! With a doctorate in women’s history and years of experience as a professional...
Feb 23, 2022•32 min•Season 3Ep. 93
We've all heard the phrase “Just go with your gut.” But this is often easier said than done. So what exactly is intuition, and how we can make the right decision as entrepreneurs or in our personal life using this subconscious phenomenon? Intuition expert and author of two books, Fail Fast, Succeed Faster , and Gut! What it is. How to trust it. How to use it , Sunil Godse joins us today from London Ontario to break down intuition and how we can begin to tune into it both personally and professio...
Feb 09, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 92
Here at NAPO we are all incredibly excited because it is nearly time for our upcoming conference. This will be our first in-person conference in three years and it is happening from the 27th to the 30th of April at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. This will be the second NAPO conference organized by Melynda Weiland, and today she joins us on the show to tell us everything we need to know about it. Melynda is the Owner of Order to Everything, an organization business that NAPO has bee...
Jan 26, 2022•28 min•Season 3Ep. 91
Joining us in conversation today is Ron Friedman, social psychologist, former academic, speaker, and author. He is here to share wisdom from his latest book, Decoding Greatness, where he draws on his research into pattern recognition, skills acquisition, and creative genius, to discuss insights about high-performing athletes, musicians, chefs, and business leaders. Tune in to hear Ron's thoughts on the purpose of collecting, his opinion on productivity programs, and how he feels about marketing ...
Jan 01, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 90
December marks the start of a very important event in NAPO’s calendar: Go Month. Here to tell us more is none other than NAPO president, Amy Tokos. Along with being a certified professional organizer, she is the owner of Freshly Organized and a productivity expert whose work has been featured in major publications. Tune in to hear how Amy stumbled upon NAPO, how it became pivotal to her development, and the story of how she came to be president. We also talk about the amazing opportunities that ...
Dec 08, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 89
Today we are so lucky to welcome productivity consultant, Debbie Rosemont, to the show to talk about her journey as a business owner, the important transitions she has made, and why adjusting your company to suit your needs and goals can be one of the most powerful tools for success! In our chat, we get into some thoughts on finding fulfillment, facing fears, dealing with leads, and building the right kind of business. Debbie started her company, Simply Placed, almost 20 years ago, and since the...
Nov 24, 2021•26 min•Season 3Ep. 88
This conversation weaves together our love of organizing and helping clients with the idea of better understanding how to motivate and inspire clients who may not be excited about this particular prospect. Our guest today is Gretchen Rubin, she is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, Outer Order, Inner Calm, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and The Four Tendencies . Gretchen has insight, not only into getting organized, or as she calls it, 'creating inner ...
Nov 10, 2021•31 min•Season 3Ep. 87
Today we have two wonderful guests on the show to share their thoughts and experiences in our ongoing discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. Janine Sarna-Jones is a certified professional organizer and certified move manager, and has a history with NAPO stretching back 20 years! Todd Allan started his work in organizing focusing on residential projects but has graduated to the digital space, applying his love of technology to help clients deal with digital clutter, specializing ...
Oct 27, 2021•54 min•Season 3Ep. 86
Whether you’re interested in re-organizing and renovations or you just love a good reality TV show, you’ve likely followed many of the TV shows about organizing since the early 2000’s, from Neat with Hellen Buttigeig in Canada to Mission Organization, Clean Sweep, and Enough Already, which featured today’s guest, Australian-born Peter Walsh. In this episode, you'll hear all about the staggering amount of clutter that the average Australian has in their home and how the pandemic has influenced pe...
Oct 12, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 85
As organizing and productivity professionals, communication is intricately tied into every part of our lives, whether we are speaking to clients, creating content online, or presenting and speaking at live events. So the sooner we can improve our communication skills and be the best at delivering our message, the better for everyone! Leveling up in this way will immediately lead to getting more work, and the work being more impactful, so we are very happy to welcome leadership communication expe...
Sep 21, 2021•37 min•Season 3Ep. 84
Today’s guests are declutterers and organizers by profession, and they’ve recently become masters of marketing too! Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman are the founders of The Declutter Hub, which started out as an online course and has broadened its scope to multiple courses, a membership, a Facebook group with a very engaged online community, and a podcast. Because of the safe and lighthearted space that Ingrid and Lesley have created, their business experienced huge growth during the COVID-19 p...
Sep 07, 2021•36 min•Season 3Ep. 83
Teachers are often under an enormous amount of pressure, and certain things in the classroom get pushed aside. One of these skills is organization. Tiffany Blassingame is the founder of Simple Organization, which looks to help busy adults and their families develop organized solutions for homework and school. As a parent, finding the balance between progressing toward your own goals and stewarding your children to theirs is not an easy task, and this is where Tiffany comes in. She has also been ...
Aug 10, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 82
Professionals in our field work with a very diverse range of clients, and for today’s episode, we have brought in Kathleen Crombie, a counseling psychologist who has extensive experience working with neurodiverse populations. This work experience, combined with the fact that Kathleen is a gifted person herself, make her the perfect candidate for giving advice to anyone who works with gifted or highly sensitive people, which she does today in abundance. Kathleen explains the differences between t...
Jul 27, 2021•48 min•Season 3Ep. 81
We all know the feeling of setting goals and intentions, only to find that we were unable to reach them because we became distracted by something else. What you may not know is that there are specific mechanisms which cause us to become distracted, and there are practical tools we can utilize to help us overcome them (these are not just life-hacks, they really work). Nir Eyal, after a profound moment in which his daughter showed him how easily distracted he was, went on a journey of discovery wh...
Jul 13, 2021•38 min•Season 3Ep. 80
The world of tech can feel overwhelming, with endless resources available and many ongoing changes arising. On today’s episode we speak with Kim Osner, owner of Need Another You, a virtual, organizing and productivity company based in Washington, DC. She shares some golden tips for organizing and automating your tech life to support and organize your life, rather than being a hindrance to your productivity. We start off the episode with an introduction to our guest and she tells us why she consi...
Jun 22, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 79
Get ready to change your definition of swagger, and to be inspired to do the work to find your own! Our guest today is Leslie Ehm; creative director, training guru, author of Swagger, and an all-round love-filled badass. As you’ll hear in more detail in this episode, finding your swagger is all about stepping into your authentic self and living your truth. Swagger looks different for everyone and leaves no room for judgement. It is a common occurrence for human beings to feel fragmented and expe...
Jun 08, 2021•40 min•Season 3Ep. 78
In today’s society, we often put so much value on busyness that it forces us to neglect ourselves. We find ourselves trying to earn our places in the world through doing, and the more we do the more is expected of us. Our guest today, Katie McDonald, understands this too well. After early success as a high-performance corporate executive, followed by the intense responsibilities of motherhood, chronic self-neglect led her to the depths of overwhelm, depression, and illness. This is what led her ...
May 25, 2021•41 min•Season 3Ep. 77
When you are self-employed, so much of your business and professional life seem to become intertwined. While many experts offer business advice or self-help, there is very little guidance out there on how to integrate these aspects, and other parts of your life, into a life that you love. Today’s guest is Jeffrey Shaw, speaker, small business coach, and author of The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success. He explains that, in business, t...
May 11, 2021•46 min•Season 3Ep. 76
You may not have used it, but by now you’ve probably heard of TikTok, the newest social media platform to infiltrate the lives of millions of people across the world. Our guest today, Leslie Hatch Gail, is currently pursuing a PhD in psychology, while running her own business and a TikTok account which has become a sensation with 127 000 followers! She joins us on today’s show to share where her love for TikTok originated, and what has sustained this fond feeling towards the platform. If you are...
Apr 27, 2021•35 min•Season 3Ep. 75
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is more important than ever following the recent global events that have thrust it into the spotlight, and dedicated employees at all levels are initiating efforts for their companies to be more DEI focused. Today’s guest is Barbara Polk, a DEI thought leader and facilitator with more than 25 years experience in human resources, operations leadership, and board governance. She is Founder and Consultant at Amplify People Advisors, a global C-suite executive ...
Apr 12, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 74
